This exhibition showcases three new commissioned works by Feral Practice, based on the entomology collection at Scarborough Museums.
How might an exhibition be guided by ants? Have humans have forgotten how much we owe to ants, as great innovators of complex societies like our own?
Many contemporary humans look at ants, if they look at them at all, with an unquestioning sense of intellectual and moral superiority. If ants are represented in museums at all, it is usually as pinned exhibits in natural history collections. Feral Practice have incorporated wood ants into the exhibition, exploring some of the complex histories and earthly wisdom that ants have brought to humans over the millennia.
The Ant-ic Museum utilises materials, forms and themes influenced by the perceptual and semiotic priorities of ants. Three new sculptures bring the domed shape of the wood ant's nest into dialogue with human architectural forms – the ziggurat, the stupa, the geodesic dome. Audio and video works embedded in these sculptures offer intimate views of the wood ants’ world.
